Fort Hood Shooting Was Not an Act of Terrorism: It Was an Act of a Lunatic Who Snapped

Like most Americans, I was shocked at the loss of life at Fort Hood, and inspired by the acts of heroism of the first responders and the common soldier who rushed to aid the wounded.

And the more I hear about the shooter, the more I'm convinced that it WAS an isolated incident. I think the fact that he was about to be sent overseas had more of an impact on him than his religion. He was an Army psychiatrist, and they're subject to the same stresses as those who are not.

I hope that people don't target American Muslims for retaliation. This situation is bad enough without people getting it into their minds to carry out private revenge acts against people who had nothing to do with the actions of one man.

Soldiers Want Politicians to Embed With Them in Iraq: Now That's a GREAT Idea

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen the beginning of something new inside U.S. military units who are engaged in combat: reporters embedded with the troops. They traveled with the troops, ate and slept next to them in the dirt, ate the dirt when the troops did, and shared the danger. And they reported as combat was ongoing.

Now some soldiers want Congress to spend some time in the dirt with them, too. Having members of Congress embed with the U.S. military??! That's a GREAT idea. This should be put into effect immediately with a six-month rotation (with no going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas either--their units will be overseas--they should be too.)

A firmer understanding of what the military is going through would be beneficial to Congress. Of course, this will NEVER happen. But it's an interesting idea.